[Congressional Bills 109th Congress]
[From the U.S. Government Publishing Office]
[H.R. 5777 Introduced in House (IH)]








109th CONGRESS
  2d Session
                                H. R. 5777

    To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit a State 
 receiving payments under such Act from using the payments for public 
communications which promote or oppose a candidate for public office or 
                            political party.


_______________________________________________________________________


                    IN THE HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES

                             July 12, 2006

  Mr. Pearce introduced the following bill; which was referred to the 
                   Committee on House Administration

_______________________________________________________________________

                                 A BILL


 
    To amend the Help America Vote Act of 2002 to prohibit a State 
 receiving payments under such Act from using the payments for public 
communications which promote or oppose a candidate for public office or 
                            political party.

    Be it enacted by the Senate and House of Representatives of the 
United States of America in Congress assembled,

SECTION 1. SHORT TITLE.

    This Act may be cited as the ``Fair Voter Education Act of 2006''.

SEC. 2. PROHIBITING USE OF ELECTION ADMINISTRATION FUNDS FOR PUBLIC 
              COMMUNICATIONS PROMOTING OR OPPOSING CANDIDATES OR 
              POLITICAL PARTIES.

    (a) Prohibiting Use of Funds.--
            (1) Initial payments to improve administration of 
        elections.--Section 101(b)(2) of the Help America Vote Act of 
        2002 (42 U.S.C. 15301(a)(2)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``or'' at the end of subparagraph 
                (A);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of 
                subparagraph (B) and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                subparagraph:
                    ``(C) to disseminate any communication to educate 
                voters concerning voting procedures, voting rights, or 
                voting technology which directly or indirectly promotes 
                or opposes a candidate for public office or a political 
                party, including a communication with images, symbols, 
                or other content which emphasizes a particular 
                candidate or party (such as pointing to a specific name 
                or party on a ballot), except that a communication 
                shall not be considered to promote a candidate or party 
                under this subparagraph solely because it includes the 
                name of an election official who is also a candidate 
                for public office.''.
            (2) Requirements payments for voting information.--Section 
        251(f) of such Act (42 U.S.C. 15401(f)) is amended--
                    (A) by striking ``or'' at the end of paragraph (1);
                    (B) by striking the period at the end of paragraph 
                (2) and inserting ``; or''; and
                    (C) by adding at the end the following new 
                paragraph:
            ``(3) to disseminate any voting information described in 
        section 302(b)(2) (without regard to the date on which the 
        information is disseminated) which directly or indirectly 
        promotes or opposes a candidate for public office or a 
        political party, including information with images, symbols, or 
        other content which emphasizes a particular candidate or party 
        (such as pointing to a specific name or party on a ballot), 
        except that a piece of voting information shall not be 
        considered to promote a candidate or party under this paragraph 
        solely because it includes the name of an election official who 
        is also a candidate for public office.''.

SEC. 3. EFFECTIVE DATE.

    The amendments made by this Act shall apply with respect to 
communications and information disseminated on or after the date of the 
enactment of this Act.
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